Draft bill #12209 of November 14, 2024 

Sponsor: Cabinet of Ministers 

Status: sent for review to the Committee on Social Policy and Veterans’ Rights Protection 

Who is affected: businesses and people with disabilities 

Summary: 

  • the concept of disability will be removed from the system of state social insurance. Instead, the definition of persistent limitation of working capacity will be used, explained as follows: 
    • persistent limitations of person’s functional abilities (for example, health conditions that affect their ability to work) 
    • these limitations may become problematic if the state does not create conditions to compensate for them (such as access to rehabilitation and support at the workplace) 
    • these limitations make it difficult to work and affect how well a person can fulfill their job duties if the state provides insufficient support 
  • the following levels of persistent limitations of working capacity are defined depending on their severity: 
    • persistent partial limitations of working capacity 
    • persistent full limitations of working capacity 
  • two types of incapacity sheets will be introduced: type A (sick leave), type B (rehabilitation leave) 
  • a new type of insurance will be included in the list of compulsory state social insurance: insurance related to persistent limitations of working capacity 
  • a monthly insurance payment related to persistent limitations of working capacity will be introduced instead of a disability pension 
  • the duration of paid treatment and rehabilitation will be extended from four months to one and a half years, also providing protection from dismissal for the duration of treatment 
  • if an employee is temporarily incapacitated but wants to return to work during rehabilitation, the employer will have to provide them with suitable work conditions according to their health status, and the salary will be paid for the actual work performed 
  • all previously appointed insurance payments will still be provided under the old procedures 
  • a person will be allowed to undergo an assessment to determine if they have a persistent limitation of working capacity. After that, they will be able to choose which payments to receive: the new monthly insurance payment (if the persistent limitation is confirmed) or the previously assigned disability pension (depending on the degree of loss of working capacity). 

What is right: the bill will modernize the social insurance system and ensures effective support for individuals who have partially or fully lost their working capacity. 

Additional information: 

  • explainer by Iryna Korzhenkova: Why is it not so simple to eliminate the medical social expertise commissions and was the NSDC’s decision necessary to do that? A lawyer’s explanation 
  • Ok, So What? podcast: MSECs will disappear, but that’s not certain